Extended deployment will obtain seasonal statistics to improve climate models
Today marks the beginning of a 20-month field campaign on Graciosa Island in the Azores to study the seasonal life cycle of marine clouds and how they modulate the global climate system. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility, researchers are using the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) to obtain data for the study called </sites/amf/grw”>Clouds, Aerosol, and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer.
Boundary-layer marine clouds are found over open oceans and in coastal environments around the world, and they play a major role in the global climate system. For accurate predictions of future climate, scientists need a better understanding of the dynamic elements that control the life cycle of these cloud types. However, detailed observations from remote locations like Graciosa Island are few and far between.
A new long-term record of clouds and the processes controlling them will, in the short term, allow scientists to test the skill of existing climate models. Ultimately, the information will lead to model improvement that will increase confidence in climate change predictions.
Located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the Azores typically experience relatively clean atmospheric conditions with passing episodes of polluted airmasses from nearby continents. The placement and duration of the AMF deployment on Graciosa is ideal for capturing a wide range of conditions.
In preparation for the campaign, the AMF team worked for more than a year with colleagues at the University of the Azores, marked by a signing ceremony for scientific collaboration in late March. This coordination smoothed the way for site preparation and the arrival of the AMF equipment in mid-March, followed soon thereafter by the AMF installation and training team in April.
As with each AMF deployment, the installation team sets up the operations shelters and connects all the instruments and data systems. The AMF team also hires and trains several local assistants to help with day-to-day maintenance and monitoring of the instruments, including launching weather balloons twice a day. This not only builds goodwill, but helps expose the science to the community.
With installation and training complete, routine operations are turned over to the permanent onsite technician and local assistants for the duration of the campaign.